Purpose: To evaluate whether it is technically feasible and safe to implant and adjust an intraocular lens (IOL) with reversibly adjustable refractive power designed to correct residual postoperative refractive error.
Setting: Animal study facility, Klinikum Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
Methods: An Acri.Tec AR-1 posterior chamber IOL (PC IOL) was implanted in pig cadaver eyes and in rabbit eyes after the crystalline lens was removed by phacoemulsification. The IOL was manipulated to change the refractive power. The outcome measures were the stability of the IOL during implantation, IOL positioning and rotation, the ability to move the adjustment device after the IOL had been implanted for several weeks, clinical signs of inflammation, and changes in the histopathologic appearance of the eye.
Results: Implantation and adjustment of refractive power were possible. The eyes healed normally. There was no difference between eyes with the AR-1 PC IOL and eyes with a control IOL in inflammatory reaction, corneal transparency, or histopathologic appearance.
Conclusion: The AR-1 PC IOL was easy to implant and well tolerated in rabbit eyes. Surgical adjustment of the adjusting element was performed with little effort several weeks after implantation of the IOL.